Steve Bull's Blog, page 18
June 18, 2024
After months of masturbatory freaking out about “the right,” the German government inches towards collapse, as the social democrats realise they’re wildly unpopular and have neither money nor answers
The Süddeutsche Zeitung reports on growing discontent with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the ranks of his own party.
Since January, German political elites have waged an unceasing “fight against the right.” For weeks at a time, the establishment press would report on little else. We have had freakouts about secret right-wing immigrant deportation plans, we have had freakouts right-wing political violence, we have had freakouts about right-wing fifth-columnists, we have had freakouts about televised political debates and we have had freakouts about right-wing song lyrics. We have had every last kind of freakout you could imagine about the right, all of it promoted by an absolutely deranged media establishment eager to revive pandemic-era hysteria. Then, after all of that screeching and scratching and crying and caterwauling, we had the EU parliamentary elections, and just like that – as if someone had simply flipped a switch – we have stopped freaking out about the right.
As campaign tactics go, the “fight against the right” didn’t work as intended. The point of it, I guess, was to blackmail voters into supporting the social democrats, the Greens and the liberals, by warning them that the alternative was fascism. Nobody bought that, and all three government parties got hammered in the European elections. The latest poll pegs their combined support at 32%.
Now the politicians of these parties are awakening with a pounding post-election hangover, and realising they’ve made a huge mistake. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports, “it is dawning on the SPD that they have underestimated the importance of migration and domestic security as political issues.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Video: Bill Gates Caught Telling Inner Circle ‘Global Famine’ Will Make Elites ‘God-Like’
Globalist billionaire Bill Gates has been caught telling his inner circle that a devastating “global famine” is the next step in the elite’s indomitable march towards total global domination.
The 500 million souls left on Earth following the great depopulation will not only be easily controlled, according to Gates, they will also yearn for the level of control that the elites can currently only dream about.
With total control of the food supply, farm land, seed banks, and genetically modified soil microbes, Gates has positioned himself to carry out a false flag worse than 9/11.
Omega-3 as Psychiatric Elixir?
We have an omega-6 problem.
I can’t even enjoy the complementary tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant anymore — my favorite thing about the whole experience — without wondering what I’m doing to myself for the sake of mouth pleasure.
Via Missouri Medicine (emphasis added):
“Marine omega-3s have been consumed by our ancestors for millions of years. Estimates indicate that during the Paleolithic era, the intake of the marine omega-3s eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was approximately 660–14,250 mg/day, compared to just 100–200 mg/day today. Furthermore, the omega-6/3 ratio has increased from around 4:1 during Paleolithic times to 20:1 today.
Over the last 100 years, the intake of the omega-6 fat linoleic acid in the United States has more than doubled. This is primarily due to the increased consumption of omega-6 rich seed oils, such as soybean, corn, and safflower oil, the latter two having an omega-6/3 ratio of approximately 60:1 and 77:1, respectively. Additionally, since the 1950s, there has been an approximate 2.5-fold increase in linoleic acid stored in adipose tissue in the United States. The increase in the omega-6/3 ratio has paralleled the rise in numerous autoimmune, inflammatory, and allergic diseases. Omega-3s are utilized by the body to resolve and lower inflammation, whereas omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids are primarily used for increasing inflammation.”
Everyone who cherishes the gifts of the internet likely remembers Trigglypuff, the college student, probably a Women’s and Gender Studies major, flapping her blubber with gusto and divine indignation at some long-forgotten crime against Social Justice
committed by long-forgotten troll Milo Yiannopoulos.
“Easy, girl!” my midwestern Irish-Catholic grandmammy, who, despite her severe demeanor, had a way with animals, would have whispered in her ear. “You’ll blow out your udders carrying on like that, and then we’d be liable to put you out to pasture, because, after all, what good is a dairy cow without her udders?”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Kiev’s Plan to Store F-16s in NATO States Raises the Risk of World War III
It can’t be ruled out that Zelensky might task one of his pilots with carrying out a mission directly from NATO territory without first stopping at a Kiev-controlled airfield in order to provoke Russia into striking the base from which it departed in self-defense.
Ukrainian Air Force head of aviation Sergey Golubtsov told US state-run Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in an interview over the weekend that Kiev plans to store some of its F-16s in NATO states for reserve and training purposes. While this might sound like a pragmatic policy, particularly since it would deter Russia from destroying its entire fleet since President Putin recently mocked speculation about him plotting to attack NATO as “bullshit”, it actually raises the risk of World War III.
To explain, although US Air Force chief Frank Kendell claimed last summer that the F-16s are “not going to be a game-changer” for Ukraine and Golubtsov himself confirmed in his latest interview that they’re “not a panacea and we do not wear rose-colored glasses”, both downplay the nuclear dimension. President Putin brought it up earlier this spring when he noted that “F-16 aircraft can also carry nuclear weapons, and we will also have to heed this while organising our combat operations.”
The Russian leader also warned that “we would see them as legitimate targets if they operate from the airfields of third countries, no matter where they are located.” Mutual mistrust between Russia and the US is at a record low and continues falling by the week, made all the worse by Ukraine’s recent attack(s) against Russia’s early nuclear warning systems that might have been tacitly approved by America. This comes as the US is playing a dangerous game of nuclear chicken with Russia.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Biden Construct Exhorts Spineless Press Corps: ‘Play By the Rules’
In this, Our Sacred Democracy, reporters don’t ask questions they are not granted permission to ask beforehand so that the correct response can be printed in bold 72-point font on a notecard for the alleged president to try to read.
So sayeth the Savior of Democracy, Keeper of the Faith, the Holy Brandon Construct.
Via The Deadline (emphasis added):
“The White House Correspondents’ Association is objecting to the notion that reporters agreed to any restrictions on the types of questions they could ask of President Joe Biden at a press conference earlier today at the G7 summit in Italy.
Appearing at the press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Biden took a question from Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove.
Wingrove asked the president if he would give his assessment of Hamas’ response to the latest ceasefire proposal. ‘Do you believe that they are trying to work towards a deal or is this response against a deal?’ Wingrove asked.
Biden responded, ‘I wish you guys would play by the rules a little bit. I’m here to talk about a critical situation in Ukraine and you asked me about another subject.’”
Recognizing that I’m probably preaching to the Armageddon Prose choir here, I would hope that we’ve long moved past the mythology of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” — the honest truth-teller with a spine who goes to Washington and sets everything right with his forthright devotion to public service or whatever.
This is nonsense; the politician has always been and will always be, with very few exceptions (like Ron Paul), a finger-in-the-wind sleazeball willing to do or say whatever he thinks will advance his personal interests (fame and money and invitations to cocktail parties, mainly).
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Carol Roth: The Death of Property Rights
And the end of the US as we know it
We all sense that our basic rights are under attack, but the nature of the enemy and the weapons at their disposal aren’t always clear. Here’s a video that spells out the who, what, and how of the New World Order. A few bullet points:
Property rights are the bedrock of a free society.
Wealthy people become wealthy because they own assets that can appreciate.
A society of renters is not a society of free individuals.
The New World Order idea isn’t a conspiracy. It’s a case of shared interests among the people who own all the assets.
The 2030 World Economic Forum roadmap begins with “You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy.” Note the “you’ll” rather than “we’ll.” They don’t include themselves in the group who will become renters.
Throughout history, people without property rights have been neither happy nor wealthy, and in many cases they’ve starved or otherwise lost their lives.
“If you want to destroy the foundation of the US, bring in a central bank digital currency.”
June 17, 2024
Sense and Nonsense on Petrodollars
Last week several reports suggested the termination of a US-Saudi petrodollar agreement, and speculated a Saudi Arabian move to sell oil on world markets in various currencies, including the Chinese yuan. The accounts were rife with inaccuracies: the Saudis’ have transacted in non-dollar currencies for decades, and there has never been a formal treaty, much less with a specified expiration date, governing the loose arrangement that has come to be called the ‘petrodollar system.’
But even the fragments of broken mirrors reflect reality, and despite their fundamental errors a significant trend is in evidence: Saudi Arabia is progressively reducing its dependence on the United States. Quite possibly reflective of its recent admittance to the expanded BRICS block it is exhibiting a greater inclination to settle oil transactions in currencies other than the US dollar. Owing to the US and Western Europe’s increasingly entangled alliances, and its own efforts to diversify away from dependence upon energy exports, Saudi Arabia has been increasing its diplomatic and economic engagements with China, Iran, Russia, nations considered primary US foreign policy adversaries. Recent moves toward accepting non-dollar currencies reflects broader geopolitical shifts away from US currency hegemony.
The concept of the petrodollar, established in the 1970s, was an informal arrangement where Saudi Arabia agreed to sell oil exclusively in US dollars in exchange for US military protection and investment in US Treasury securities. In the immediate wake of the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, the arrangement bolstered the value of the US dollar and secured US military support for Saudi Arabia. It also ensured relatively consistent demand for US government debt, a windfall which five decades later has become a millstone of damning heft.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
June 16, 2024
Dollar’s Reign May Not Last Much Longer (If History Is Any Guide)
Chart of the Week #6
Today’s chart ties into the de-dollarization trend we’ve been talking about a lot lately in these pages.
When most people around the world think about money, they’re probably thinking of the U.S. Dollar. That’s because the greenback is the world’s primary reserve currency. This, of course, is in no small part thanks to its dominant role in global oil trade.
But the U.S. Dollar hasn’t always held the throne. If you look at the graph below, you’ll see that the history of the world’s reserve currencies began with the Portuguese Real in 1450 (and has continuously shifted from one currency to another since then).
This coincided with the Age of Discovery in the 15th century when Portuguese navigators like Vasco da Gama opened new sea routes to Africa, India, and Asia. Portugal’s expanding maritime empire and colonial territories gave it control over key trade routes and access to plenty of gold and silver.
For centuries that followed, those who dominated commerce and had the most gold made the rules. Unlike today’s U.S. Dollar, these currencies weren’t fiat abstractions; they were literally made of precious metals or backed by them. They were money.
And so, around 1530, the Spanish took over, followed by the Dutch about a century later, and then the British, all the way to the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. That’s when a new system was established (solidifying the dollar’s global dominance that began after WWI), tying almost every nation’s currency to the U.S. Dollar at a fixed rate… and the dollar to gold at $35 an ounce.
Alas, the dollar’s tether to gold wasn’t meant to last.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Impending System Failure
Readying the war machine for what’s to come
Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne, Kuwaiti desert, March 20, 2003. (AP Photo/Jean-Marc Bouju/National Journal)H.R. 8070, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2025 features the usual increase in “defense” spending to a record $883.7 billion. It takes money to be by far the biggest arms supplier to the world at 41.7 percent and provide the munitions necessary to murder Palestinian women and children. We also, most sadly, have to think about the future, as droughts, floods and temperature extremes destroy economies and create resource wars. This is not to say that I approve.
$883.7 billion works out to about $2600, for each one of us Americans spreading corporatocracy far and wide, shell by shell, proxy war by proxy war.
I just read a post by Dennis Kucinich, remember him, the man who ran for president and had the “radical” idea of creating a Department of Peace? He lost, of course. In his article, he mentioned there’s an amendment to the latest Pentagon budget to reinstate the draft. I double-checked.
Sure enough, section 531 addresses automatic registration in the Selective Service System, stating:
“Except as otherwise provided in this title, every male citizen of the United States, and every other male person residing in the United States, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six, shall be automatically registered under this Act by the Director of the Selective Service System.”
Huh. I guess we still need living, breathing bodies to operate remote AI enhanced weapons hovering about. I responded to Dennis, knowing one of our fine public servants would be eager to get back to me.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
In our make-believe politics, the strings pulled by the super-rich are all too visible
Biden wanders offstage or walks like a geriatric robot. Yet we are meant to believe he’s carefully navigating us through the nuclear tripwires of the West’s serial wars
We live in a world of make-believe politics, a world where strings pulled in the interests of the super-rich are ever more visible. And yet we are expected to pretend we cannot see those strings. More astonishing still, many people really do seem blind to the puppet show.
1. The “leader of the free world”, President Joe Biden, can barely maintain his attention for more than a few minutes without straying off topic, or wandering offstage. When he has to walk before the cameras, he does so like he is auditioning for the role of a geriatric robot. His whole body is gripped with the concentration he needs to walk in a straight line.
And yet we are supposed to believe he is carefully working the levers of the western empire, making critically difficult calculations to keep the West free and prosperous, while keeping in check its enemies – Russia, China, Iran – without provoking a nuclear war. Is he really capable of doing all that when he struggles to put one foot in front of the other?
2. Part of that tricky diplomatic balancing act Biden is supposedly conducting, along with other western leaders, relates to Israel’s military operation in Gaza. The West’s “diplomacy” – backed by weapons transfers – has resulted in the murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians, most of them women and children; the gradual starvation of 2.3 million Palestinians over many months; and the destruction of 70 per cent of the enclave’s housing stock and almost all of its major infrastructure and institutions, including schools, universities and hospitals.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
